Beachcomber

Officials of the Rockaway Musicand Art Council have told TheWave that, after a 26-year run,there will be no Fall Festival thisyear. The annual festival, whichtraditionally drew thousands ofvisitors each year, is a victim ofthe new National Park Servicepolicy of charging neighborhoodgroups who use Gateway NationalPark for everything from toiletpaper to security. Last year’s festivalcost the group in excess of$17,000, far more than the groupearned in donations from theevent. In addition, there is a questionof whether or not the highlypopularSummer Picnic ConcertSeries will resume again this summer.

The “Freezin For A Reason” ocean plunge scheduled for Saturday, February 27 had to be called off due to the large snowstorm on Thursday night into Friday. Officials for the Special Olympics fundraiser said in an email that the safety of the participants was the paramount concern. No new date has yet been scheduled.

State Senator Malcolm Smith isunder investigation by the fedsbecause of his involvement in anon-profit that was set up to providemoney to Hurricane Katrinasurvivors, so we guess that he hasmore to worry about than hispress releases. However, a releasehe sent out last week had everybodyat The Wave laughing. “SenatorSmith Signs Bill MakingCommunities Safer For SexualPredators,” read the headline onhis press release. We have thoughfor a long time that sexual predatorsneed more protection fromthe communities they prey on.

Officials at the United States Post Office are increasing the pressure for dropping Saturday delivery. Seems that the quasi-federal agency is losing too much money because many people are not using it much any more – preferring email and private parcel delivery companies over the snail-mail that they once sent. The agency was $297 million in the hole from October to December of last year, usually the agency’s busy season due to holiday mailings. It is expected that Congress will honor its request and Saturday mail will go the way of twice-a-day delivery to businesses.

Portions of the eastbound lane ofthe Rockaway Freeway will beclosed on an intermittent basisbeginning in early March to allowfor the ongoing rehabilitation ofthe subway stations on the A Line.The portions of the Freeway to beclosed are from Beach 67 Street toBeach 56 Street and from Beach38 To Beach 35 Streets. The MTAsays that the closings are to facilitatethe rehabilitation of the stationsand to insure public safety.

One of the proposals that was presented at the Community Board 14 meeting last Tuesday night was to rename the Beach 67 Street (Gaston Avenue) subway station to “Beach 67 Street – Arverne By The Sea” to recognize the reality of the massive housing development and to point out that a new Transit Plaza with stores and condominiums will one day take over the site of the present station. It fits the history, because that area was, in the heyday of Rockaway, called Arverne By The Sea.

Rockaway residents are holdingtheir collective breath waiting forthe Department of Parks and Recreationto detail the ten percentcuts it must make in next summer’sbudget. At the least, we havebeen told by a knowledgeablesource that all of the seasonal employeesthat clean the beach andman the bathrooms will be cut, aswill many of the Park EnforcementPolice that patrolled thebeachfront. At the worst, we willlose some lifeguards, which willmean more closed beaches nextsummer. We’ll have to wait andsee.

Mayor Bloomberg has turned his nanny eye on street fairs and parades. Two weeks ago, he announced that parade routes would have to be cut by 25 percent and would have to run under five hours beginning this summer, which he says will save lots of police overtime. What that means is that next year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade will, which traditionally runs from Beach 129 to Beach 95 Street, a distance of some 34 blocks, will have to stop somewhere around Beach 105 Street. As to the street fairs, the mayor wants them gone entirely, but he will continue to suffer some of the “more important” street fairs. “Look, I like going down and having one of those hot sausages like anybody else,” the mayor said on his weekly radio show. “But, you do disrupt traffic, you lose commerce and the police department has to provide overtime coverage.”

The recent ruling by federal judgeNicholas Garaufis that mentallyill residents must be moved out ofmore than a dozen adult homes inRockaway has frightened manylocals who see those residentsmoving out into the communityand next door to his or her home.There is a distinct possibility thatsomething like that could happen,because the advocacy groups thatfiled the lawsuit in the first placesay that the mentally ill who canhandle living in supported livingunits should stay in the communitythey are familiar with – meaningRockaway. The fact is, however,most of the residents of thosehomes were not Rockaway residentswhen they were first placedin the homes, but were transplantedhere from other parts of thecity where the adult homes wereun-welcome. It is interesting tonote that the New York Post brokea story this week stating thatGaraufis’s wife has been active asa board member of FountainHouse, a housing advocacy groupthat runs supported housing programs.Is that a conflict of interest?Even though his wife probablydoes not benefit financiallyfrom her work with FountainHouse, we believe it is a conflict ofinterest, and he should have recusedhimself.